32 Tracking Your Connections' Activities

The social networking capabilities in WebCenter Spaces enable you to view and manage your own Activity Stream and to view the Activity Streams of others if they have made them available to you. Additionally, all members of a given Space can view the streamed activities of all other members without formally connecting to them when the Activity Stream is scoped to that Space.

This chapter provides an overview of Activity Stream and its associated features and functions, and catalogs the properties associated with Activity Stream task flows. It includes the following sections:

This chapter is intended for users assigned an application role that includes, minimally, the permission People Connections: Update People Connections Data. Users who plan to edit task flow properties must be assigned a role that also includes the permission Edit Pages. In a Space (other than the Home Space), users must be assigned a role that includes the permission Edit Page Access and Structure.

32.1 What You Should Know About Activity Stream

In WebCenter Spaces, Activity Stream provides a streaming view of the activities of your connections, actions taken in Spaces, and business activities. For example, Activity Stream can note when you or a connection posts feedback, uploads a document, and creates a discussion forum. Additionally, it streams messages entered through the Publisher task flow.

Through Activity Stream Preferences, you can select to show connection and Space activities. (Note, however, that your application administrator may disable all users from overriding application-level settings.) Through application programming interfaces (APIs), you can control the display of business activities.

In addition to streaming messages, your Activity Stream can provide access to file attachments and web links added through the Publisher task flow. Further, users can share a streamed activity and its attachments using a Share feature, available on each streamed item.

In page view mode, use Activity Stream Preferences to specify who can view your Activity Stream and the types of activities to show. For more information about Preferences relating to Activity Stream task flows, see Section 32.2, "Setting Activity Stream Preferences."

In page edit mode, use Activity Stream task flow properties to hide or show various controls on everyone's view of a task flow instance and to limit the types of services and objects and the specific Spaces that are tracked. For more information about Activity Stream task flow properties, see Section 32.5, "Setting Activity Stream Task Flow Properties."

WebCenter Spaces provides the following Activity Stream task flows:

Activity Streamfor viewing application activities and the activities of your connections and for providing access to the attachments added through the Share link (Figure 32-1)

This full view of Activity Stream functionality includes options for liking and commenting on listed activities and for sharing different types of objects, such as images, URLs, documents, and the like. Activity Stream also provides a means of hiding the activities and posts of a given user. You can use Activity Stream Options to show those users you have hidden.

The Activities page in the Home Space combines an instance of the Publisher task flow with the Activity Stream task flow.

Unlike the full view of Activity Stream, Activity Stream - Quick View does not display Like, comments, and Share links.

A hierarchy of configuration settings control what you can do with your view of the Activity Stream. The application administrator sets application-wide values on the Administration page. You can set your own personal values through People Connections Preferences. You can also set values on a given task flow instance in both page edit mode, which affects all users' views of the task flow instance (application customization), and page view mode, which affects only your view of the task flow (user customization).

Tip:

If you adjust a setting through Preferences that does not seem to affect the behavior of a task flow as you expected, it may be because settings on the task flow itself override Preferences settings.

Clicking an object in an Activity Stream opens the object. For example, clicking the name of a newly created document in an Activity Stream opens the document. Clicking a user name in an Activity Stream opens a user profile pop-up. Clicking an attachment, such as a file or a URL, navigates you to that attachment.

Activity Stream compares somewhat to the Recent Activities service, which also tracks and reports on application activities (for more information, see Chapter 69, "Working with the Recent Activities Service"). Both track the application activities of integrated services, though Activity Stream tracks a broader range. For example, Recent Activities tracks the Document, Announcements, and Discussions services, as well as page-related activities. Activity Stream tracks all of these as well as People Connections, Wikis, and Blogs. Recent Activities tracks activities no matter who performs the action. Activity Stream tracks activities performed by a user's connections. Activity Stream can be scoped to the Space (including the Home Space) in which it is placed. It also provides the name of the person performing the action. Recent Activities cannot be scoped to the Home Space, and it does not provide the name of the person who performed the action.

To summarize the basic difference between these two services: Recent Activities provides an overview of what is happening in an application. Activity Stream provides an overview of what is happening with a user's connections.

Under People, specify whose activities to show in your view the Activity Stream:

Tip:

This setting relates only to the activities that stream from the People Connections service. Such activities include making connections, posting Feedback and Messages, adjusting your Profile, and so on.

From the dropdown list, select one option from:

Only Me—Show only your own activities in your view of the Activity Stream.

Me and My Connections—Show only your activities and the activities of your connections in your view of the Activity Stream.

No Personal—Do not show any user activities in your view of the Activity Stream, including your own.

Selected Connection Lists—Show the activities of only those users on the selected connections lists in your view of the Activity Stream.

When you select this option, all available connections lists appear below it. Select one or more connections lists to limit the display of activities to the users on those lists.

32.3 Adding an Activity Stream Task Flow to a Page

32.4 Working with Activity Stream Task Flows

In page view mode, you can perform user customizations on a task flow instance that affect only your view of that task flow. Activity Stream task flows provide user customization controls for determining whose activities and what activities are streamed.

In page edit mode, you can perform application customizations on a task flow instance that affect everyone's view of that task flow. For example, Activity Stream provides controls for enabling or disabling the display of links for liking, sharing, and commenting on individual Activity Stream items. In view of this, some of the actions described in this section may not be available, depending on such customizations.

This section provides information about controlling whose activities what activities are shown in a given task flow instance, as well as how to like and comment on a streamed item, and how to share a file or URL with other users through the Activity Stream.

32.4.1 Selecting the People to Stream in an Activity Stream Instance

Use the Options link on an Activity Stream task flow instance to specify the people from whom to stream activities in your view of an Activity Stream instance. Use the pencil icon on an Activity Stream - Quick View task flow to perform the same operation.

To select the people from whom to stream activities in your view of an Activity Stream task flow instance:

Go to an instance of an Activity Stream or Activity Stream - Quick View task flow.

32.4.2 Selecting the Spaces to Stream in an Activity Stream Instance

Use the Options link on an Activity Stream task flow instance to select the Spaces from which to stream activities. Use the pencil icon on an Activity Stream - Quick View task flow to perform the same operation.

To select the Spaces from whom to stream activities in an Activity Stream task flow instance:

Go to an instance of an Activity Stream or Activity Stream - Quick View task flow.

For Activity Stream only: in the resulting dialog, click the Settings tab to bring it forward.

Under Spaces, select to show activities from all available Spaces in your view of the Activity Stream (All Spaces), or omit the display of any Space activities (No Spaces).

Tip:

Selecting No Spaces affects the outcome of your service selection (see Section 32.4.3): despite their selection, services publish no activities to your view of the Activity Stream.

Click Save to save your changes and exit the dialog.

32.4.3 Selecting the Services to Stream in an Activity Stream Instance

Use the Options link on an Activity Stream task flow instance to select the services from which to stream activities. Use the pencil icon on an Activity Stream - Quick View task flow to perform the same operation.

To select the services from whom to stream activities in an Activity Stream task flow instance:

Go to an instance of an Activity Stream or Activity Stream - Quick View task flow.

For Activity Stream only: in the resulting dialog, click the Settings tab to bring it forward.

Under Service Categories, select the services for which to track activities.

Select a checkbox to track the activity of a particular service; clear a checkbox to ignore the activity of a particular service.

Tip:

Selecting No Spaces in Section 32.4.2 affects the outcome of your service selection: despite their selection here, services publish no activities to your view of the Activity Stream.

Click Save to save your changes and exit the dialog.

32.4.4 Hiding and Showing the Activities of a Selected User

Some of your connections may post activities with a frequency that is more of a distraction than a help. In this case, or for any other reason, you can select to hide the activities streamed from selected users in your view of the Activity Stream task flow (or from the Activities page in the Home Space).

You can easily reverse this action by showing one or more hidden users through the Options link on the affected Activity Stream task flow.

This section describes how to hide or show the activities of individual users in an Activity Stream task flow instance. It includes the following subsections:

32.4.4.2 Showing the Activities of a Hidden User

Go to an instance of an Activity Stream task flow where a user's activities are hidden.

Click Options.

In the resulting dialog, click the People tab to bring it forward.

Next to the person whose activities you want to show, click Show (Figure 32-7).

Figure 32-7 The Options Link and the Show Button

32.4.5 Hiding and Showing the Activities of a Selected Space

If there is a Space that streams activities that are not currently of interest to you, you can hide that Space's activities from a selected instance of the Activity Stream task flow (or from the Activities page in the Home Space).

You can easily reverse this action by showing one or more hidden Spaces through the Options link on the affected Activity Stream task flow.

Whether or not the activities streaming from Space are shown can be determined at the application level, in personal Preferences, and on an individual task flow instance in both page view mode and page edit mode. If you find you cannot hide or show activities streaming from Spaces, it is likely that at one of these levels, the facility to see such activities has been blocked.

This section describes how to hide the activities streaming from a particular Space, and how to show those hidden activities. It includes the following subsections:

32.4.5.2 Showing the Activities of a Hidden Space

Go to an instance of an Activity Stream task flow where a Space's activities are hidden.

Click Options.

In the resulting dialog, click the Spaces tab to bring it forward.

Next to the Space whose activities you want to show, click Show (Figure 32-9).

Figure 32-9 The Options Link and the Show Button in Activity Stream Options Dialog

32.4.6 Liking and Commenting On Activity Stream Items

Provided the Activity Stream task flow has been configured to do so, you and the users to whom you have provided access to your Activity Stream can express a liking for or comment on a particular streamed item.

To express a liking for a streamed item, go to an Activity Stream task flow and click the Like link. You can remove your liking by clicking the resulting Unlike link.

To comment on a streamed item, click the comments link, enter a comment in the resulting field, and click the Comment button. For each comment you add, a delete icon is provided to enable you to remove your comment.

32.4.7 Sharing Files and other Objects Through an Activity Stream Item

Provided the Activity Stream task flow is configured to support it, you can share a streamed item with all of the users who are allowed to view your streamed activities. This could be all of your connections or all of the users on a selected connections list. Who an item is shared with is determined by how you or your application administrator has configured your Activity Stream.

If you prefer, you can send a streamed item through mail, and consequently select all recipients yourself.

32.5.1 What You Should Know About Activity Stream Task Flow Properties

When you set property values on an Activity Stream task flow, you are affecting only the task flow instance on which the value is set. Other instances of the same task flow are not affected by such changes.

All properties on the Parameters and Display Options tabs provide access to an Expression Language (EL) editor, which you can use to select or specify a variable value instead of a constant value. Click the Edit icon next to a property field to open the editor. For more information about using the editor and for descriptions of common EL expressions, see Appendix B, "Expression Language Expressions."

32.5.2 Activity Stream Task Flow Parameters

Table 32-2 describes the parameters that are unique to Activity Stream task flows.

A checkbox for specifying whether contextual information is shown when users click a Context Info icon

For example, if the item John created the purchase order General Supplies appears in the Activity Stream with a Context Info icon (the reddish dot), users who see the streamed item can click the icon to view the PO in a popup or navigate to the PO, depending on how the event is configured.

This parameter is primarily for use with WebCenter Portal applications. In WebCenter Spaces, unless otherwise handled (such as the Profile popup on a user name), resources are rendered within the Resource Viewer system page (see Table 7-2, "Seeded System Pages").

Select the checkbox to enable context information (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to prevent the display of context information (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Hide Comments

A checkbox for specifying whether a comments link is shown on a task flow instance

Select the checkbox to show the comments link (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to hide the comments link (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Hide Configuration Button

A checkbox for specifying whether the Options link appears on the Activity Stream task flow or the pencil icon appears on Activity Stream - Quick View

Select the checkbox to show the configuration control (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to hide the configuration control (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

Activity Stream - Quick View

Activity Stream

Hide Footer

A checkbox for specifying whether a More link is shown at the base of the task flow

Users click the More link to navigate to the Activities business role page in the Home Space.

Select the checkbox to hide the More link (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to show the More link (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream - Quick View task flow.

Hide Header

A checkbox for specifying whether to hide the controls that appear in the task flow header

Select the checkbox to hide the task flow header (#{true}). The Refresh and pencil icons are hidden.

Clear the checkbox to show the task flow header (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream - Quick View task flow.

Hide Inline Preview

A checkbox for specifying whether to hide previews of streamed files

Select the checkbox to hide previews of streamed files (#{true}). Links to streamed files are provided but previews are omitted.

Clear the checkbox to show previews of streamed files (#{false}). Both links to and previews of streamed files are shown.

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Hide Like

A checkbox for specifying whether to hide the Like link on streamed items

Select the checkbox to hide the Like link (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to show the Like link (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Hide Share

A checkbox for specifying whether to hide the Share menu on streamed items

Select the checkbox to hide the Share menu (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to show the Share menu (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

No of activities to display per page

A field for entering the number of streamed items to show per page

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

Activity Stream

Activity Stream - Quick View

Pagination

A checkbox for specifying whether to provide Previous and Next links to enable users to page through streamed activities

Select the checkbox to show Previous and Next links (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to hide them (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Profile Only

A checkbox for specifying whether to stream activities only from user profiles

Select the checkbox to stream only those activities associated with the current user (#{true}).

Clear the checkbox to stream the activities of other users along with those associated with the current user (#{false}).

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Profile User Id

A field for entering the ID of the current user

This value is provided by default, #{securityContext.userName}.

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream - Quick View task flow.

Resource Id

A field for entering the ID of the current user

This value is provided by default, #{securityContext.userName}. Users should not change this value when the task flow instance appears in the context of a Space. You can use it in the Home Space to view the activities of a named user.

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Service Categories

A field for entering the IDs of services from which to stream activities

Use this parameter to limit the display of streamed activities to only those associated with the specified service or services. Enter the service category ID or the service ID. For a list of valid service IDs, see Table B-19, "Service IDs".

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

Spaces

A field for entering the names of Spaces from which to stream activities

Use this parameter to limit the display of streamed activities to only those associated with the specified Space or Spaces.

Enter the GUID of the Space or the Space's internal name. The Space internal name is the name specified by the Space URL on the General page of a Space's administration settings.

Note that the activities that are streamed in an Activity Stream task flow that is scoped to a particular Space are visible to all members of that Space, regardless of whether they are formally connected to each other.

This parameter is associated with the Activity Stream task flow.

32.5.3 Using an Advanced Query to Filter Activity Stream Items

The Activity Stream task flow provides an Advanced Query parameter, which you can use to create custom filters against streamed activities using a SQL WHERE clause. For example, using SQL you can set up an Activity Stream instance to show only those activities relating to the Page service or streaming from the current user or a named user.

This section provides an overview of the Activity Stream Advanced Query option and steps you through the process of entering an advanced query. It includes the following subsections:

32.5.3.1 What You Should Know About the Activity Stream Advanced Query Option

Use Advanced Query to create filters against user names, service IDs, and object details, such as a document's display name. You can use SQL syntax for parameter values. Additionally you can place EL expressions within the SQL.

You can construct queries against specific database objects, which are represented by aliases that are prefixed to the inquiry. Table 32-3 lists and describes the types of database objects against which you can construct a query and provides their alias prefixes.

SERVICE_ID—The service ID of the service from which the tracked object issues. See Table B-19, "Service IDs" for a list of service IDs.

OBJECT_ID—The GUID of the object.

DISPLAY_NAME—The object display name.

OBJECT_TYPE—The object type.

Object type names for use with Advanced Query include:

event

announcement

forum

topic

bookmark

list

page

blog

document

wiki

Table 32-4 Activity Type Names for Advanced Query

Service

Activity Type Name

Events

createEvent

updateEvent

Announcements

createAnnouncement

updateAnnouncement

Discussions

createForum

createTopic

replyTopic

Tags

updateBookmark

Lists

createList

editList

Page

createPage

editPage

Documents

create-blog

update-blog

create-document

create-wiki

update-document

update-wiki

People Connections (Profile)

updateStatus

updateProfile

updatePhoto

People Connections (Message Board)

postScope

postself

post

sharescope

shareself

share

shareobjectscope

shareobjectself

shareobject

updatescope

updateself

update

People Connections (Connections)

connect

inviteForConnection

People Connections (Feedback)

post

The SQL string that is passed as the advanced query parameter complies with SQL standards. That is, it supports SQL constructs, such as AND, OR, IN, and the like. Note, however, that it does not support INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, SELECT, JOIN constructs. The syntax of the advanced query must contain only the WHERE clause portion of a SQL query. Because SELECT is not supported, the WHERE clause cannot have nested queries or subqueries.

The Advanced Query parameter also supports EL expressions, which can be embedded in the WHERE clause or used to generate the whole WHERE clause.

All the literals in the query must be escaped by prepending a backward slash (\), otherwise such characters generate syntax errors (see Table 32-5 for examples).

Note that the advanced query WHERE clause is always AND'ed to the internal query that is generated by Activity Stream based on the current user, Space membership, connection list, and the like. This is to prevent a user from viewing activities to which he or she does not have access.

32.5.4.1 Preventing Users from Customizing an Activity Stream

By default, Activity Stream task flows provide user customization controls that enable users to specify whose actions they want to see and from what services and Spaces in a given Activity Stream task flow. On the Activity Stream task flow, this is the Options link. On the Activity Stream - Quick View task flow, this is the pencil icon.

The Hide Configuration Button property is available when you want to prevent users from overriding application-level customizations with their own user-level customizations.

The Service Categories property associated with the Activity Stream task flow extends this capability by enabling you to enforce a particular selection. For example, you can specify the service category documents, and only those connections' activities that stream from the Documents service are shown in the task flow instance.